Ancient Sword Tomb Chapter Thirty-Four: The Blood-Devouring Ancient Array

As Ten Spirits spoke, Luo Chen felt a wave of relief settle in his heart. Since Ten Spirits had seen it before, it meant there was hope for Wang Siyu’s poison to be cured. This thought made Luo Chen smile inwardly. Watching Ten Spirits pacing restlessly before him, Luo Chen could only wait in patience. After a few breaths, Ten Spirits suddenly froze.

“Midnight Rose, yes! That’s it!”

Midnight Rose? Luo Chen was taken aback—the name sounded like a flower, not a poison. Before he could ponder further, he noticed Ten Spirits was unusually excited, darting about energetically.

“How fortunate! I never thought I’d see this again, haha!”

Seeing this, Luo Chen helplessly pressed his hand to his face, smiled lightly, and shook his head. Remembering Wang Siyu, still stricken by poison, he turned his gaze to Ten Spirits.

“Ten Spirits, perhaps you should cure Wang Siyu first, then we can discuss the Midnight Rose.”

After Luo Chen spoke, Ten Spirits seemed to realize Luo Chen was watching her with an awkward expression. She quickly flew to his side, smiling sheepishly.

“Master, please step outside. I’ll send you the antidote method with my spiritual sense.”

Hearing this, Luo Chen opened his eyes and glanced at the unconscious Wang Siyu. As Ten Spirits’ words echoed in his mind, he looked at Wang Kui, then gently pulled aside the clothing on Wang Siyu’s left chest. There, he saw an undeveloped flower, blood-red in hue.

“What is this?” Luo Chen turned to look at the terrified Wang Kui, furrowing his brows. After a moment’s hesitation, he lifted Wang Siyu into his arms and ran toward the door. Wang Kui, bewildered, quickly followed.

Moments later, Luo Chen appeared in the courtyard with Wang Siyu in his arms. He paused, glanced at Qing Xuan Yu in the distant pavilion, and hurried toward her. Qing Xuan Yu, waiting in the courtyard, saw Luo Chen approaching with a woman in his arms and quickly stood up.

Within a few breaths, Luo Chen reached her, and the group rose in alarm. Qing Xuan Yu glanced at Luo Chen, then turned her gaze to the woman he carried.

“Brother Wuming, what’s happened?”

“Yu’er, I need your help,” Luo Chen said, urgent and serious, then carried Wang Siyu from the pavilion to a patch of grass nearby. Qing Xuan Yu watched as he gently laid the woman down. Though she did not fully understand, she handed the little girl she held to another woman and walked forward.

As Luo Chen used his spiritual power to form a barrier around Wang Siyu, her unconscious form began to float a meter above the ground. Looking back at Qing Xuan Yu’s puzzled face, Luo Chen softly arranged her hair, then placed her hand before him.

“Yu’er, Miss Siyu has been poisoned. I need you to temporarily freeze her.”

“Ah!” Qing Xuan Yu was shocked, barely able to believe Luo Chen’s words. She glanced at Wang Siyu suspended in the air, then looked at Luo Chen, still confused. Luo Chen knew his request sounded incredible, but it was Ten Spirits’ only solution. He nodded firmly at Qing Xuan Yu.

Seeing this, Qing Xuan Yu understood. Luo Chen would not ask her to do anything reckless. She nodded gently and moved beside Wang Siyu. As Qing Xuan Yu’s aura spread, the temperature in the space dropped sharply, and frost began to cover the grass around her.

“Stop!” A voice called from behind. Luo Chen turned to see Wang Kui rushing over. Qing Xuan Yu halted her aura. Wang Kui hurried to Luo Chen’s side, looking at Wang Siyu and the icy surroundings, his face filled with terror.

“Friend Wuming, what are you doing?”

Luo Chen slowly turned to Wang Siyu, then looked at Wang Kui and offered a reassuring smile.

“Does the Wang family head not trust me?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Wang Kui looked at Wang Siyu and shook his head lightly.

“Miss Siyu has been poisoned by Midnight Rose. I believe you saw the blood-red flower on your daughter’s chest. When that flower fully forms—at midnight—if we do nothing, Miss Siyu’s spiritual consciousness will be destroyed and she will become a puppet.”

“What?” Wang Kui staggered backward, his fear giving way to pain. Luo Chen glanced at the others, then signaled Qing Xuan Yu to continue. Luo Chen’s words were not false.

These were the details Ten Spirits had shared: Midnight Rose, though called a poison, is actually a soul-capturing and spirit-controlling art, performed with the heart’s blood of a loved one—a bizarre secret technique. The budding blood-red flower on Wang Siyu’s chest was formed from the blood of a loved one’s heart.

At midnight, when the flower forms, it will first devour Wang Siyu’s spiritual consciousness, turning her into a puppet devoid of will, to be manipulated by others.

Luo Chen was curious. He glanced at the group behind him—he was sure none of them were responsible. Suddenly, a thought struck him. He turned to Wang Kui, his expression grave.

“Family head Wang, does Miss Siyu have an elder brother named Wang Lin?”

Wang Kui nodded, hesitating as he looked at Luo Chen. Could Wang Lin be connected to Siyu’s poisoning? Impossible. Wang Lin should be away, summoned by the Sacred Land’s trial. Luo Chen saw Wang Kui lost in thought and decided to say nothing further—he could not be certain yet.

“Brother Wuming, it’s done,” came Qing Xuan Yu’s voice. Luo Chen turned to see Qing Xuan Yu’s face was pale, her forehead beaded with sweat. He gently pulled her into his arms, wiped the sweat from her brow, and handed her a pill to restore her spiritual power.

“Yu’er, go rest for a while. We’ll return soon.”

Qing Xuan Yu nodded and slipped from Luo Chen’s embrace, walking slowly toward the pavilion. Watching her retreat, Luo Chen felt a pang of concern. To freeze Wang Siyu without harming her was a challenge for Qing Xuan Yu.

“Family head Wang, to save Miss Siyu, I will need your help.”

Wang Kui bowed to Luo Chen and said, “Young master Wuming, speak freely.”

“I need the blood of a loved one—her closest kin.”

Luo Chen looked up at the night sky, not waiting for Wang Kui’s answer. He strode to the frozen Wang Siyu, his expression steely as his fingers moved in intricate gestures. A formation gradually appeared beneath his feet, then shifted beneath Wang Siyu.

“Begin!” With Luo Chen’s command, a pillar of light rose from the formation, enveloping Wang Siyu. The group watched in astonishment, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Luo Chen withdrew, moved to Wang Kui, and seized his right hand. Before Wang Kui could react, Luo Chen waved his hand, and a cold light flashed. A thin wound opened on Wang Kui’s palm.

Streams of blood emerged, vanishing instantly as they met the glow on Luo Chen’s hand, as if consumed. Wang Kui recoiled in alarm.

“Don’t move!” Luo Chen’s voice was stern. Though Wang Kui was anxious, he glanced at his daughter and did not resist. After nearly ten breaths, Luo Chen released Wang Kui’s hand and turned to Wang Siyu.

No one knew how much blood had been consumed by the glow; Wang Kui’s face was pale. Luo Chen looked at Wang Siyu, then raised both hands, palms facing each other before his chest.

As his hands slowly parted, a crimson formation appeared between them. Luo Chen pushed it forward, and it landed upright in front of the earlier formation beneath Wang Siyu.

The frozen Wang Siyu began to emit an eerie aura. Luo Chen smiled faintly—the midnight hour had arrived, and Wang Siyu’s expression was contorted in pain.

“Siyu!” Wang Kui cried out. Luo Chen stopped him, understanding that this was the critical moment.

The aura from Wang Siyu’s body intensified, seeping through the ice and being devoured by the crimson formation standing before her. This was the Blood Devouring Ancient Formation, forged from the blood of her kin, as instructed by Ten Spirits.

According to Ten Spirits, the Midnight Rose afflicting Wang Siyu was not the true poison—it had been destroyed tens of thousands of years ago. This was a half-formed imitation, crafted by someone following ancient methods.

Even so, the poison retained some properties of the Midnight Rose. Only by condensing the Blood Devouring Ancient Formation with the blood of a loved one could her kin’s aura draw out the Midnight Rose from Wang Siyu’s body, painfully but necessarily—the only way to save her.